BCT sums up first half-year

In the first half of 2012, the Baltic Container Terminal in Gdynia handled 204 660 TEU, i.e. 17.4% more than in the corresponding period in 2011. The BCT’s consistent improvement of performance demonstrates the effectiveness of strategies implemented by the Board and the investment-related operations aimed at winning new customers. The past period was also abundant with events and achievements important for the Company – a record-breaking number of containers was handled in the intermodal transport, and the Port of Gdynia serviced the largest in the history container ship.

We are very glad that our terminal achieves increasingly better results, but we do realize that we still have to invest in improving handling capacity and be quick to handle shipping connections directly from Asia. Sustainable growth will continue, if Gdynia manages to effectively carry out further deepening of port channels, construct a bigger turntable in the inner harbour and other relevant infrastructural investments. The Board of the Port of Gdynia is fully aware of the above and has initiated prompt actions, which allows us to believe that our investments in very big gantries and other terminal devices will be used properly" said Krzysztof Szymborski, President of BCT.

The first half of 2012 proved to be successful for the Baltic Container Terminal due to good results, as well as the events important for the Company. In March this year, BCT signed a final agreement with the Centre for EU Transport Projects (CUPT), and thus launched the biggest investment project in its history. The amount of the subsidy amounted to PLN 53 million 800 thousand, and the total eligible costs of the BCT’s project exceeds PLN 153 million. The subsidy was granted under the Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment Measure 7.4 "Development of intermodal transport", priority VII: Environmentally-friendly transport Operational Programme Infrastructure and Environment 2007-2013. By 2015, the BCT will invest in equipment, infrastructure, and IT systems. The execution of the investment is yet another step towards the projected future handling capacity of 1.2 million TEU annually.

Also the intermodal cargo handling has a quite significant share in the terminal’s operations. The record-breaking result was recorded in January, when 43.7% of containers transhipped by land were carried by rail. In subsequent months, the share of railway cargo fluctuated around 40%. The intermodal transport is also related to the contract signed in May with Baltic Rail. The contract for handling containers transported by this operator is a quantum leap towards the implementation of the concept of a European, intermodal Baltic-Adriatic Railway Corridor. Twice a week trains depart from the BCT terminal and they can transport the cargo to the Slovenian Koper on the Adriatic Sea. The efforts to launch a direct rail link with the Croatian Rijeka are also made. Intermodal transport and the European Transport Corridor VI were also promoted by the Board of BCT at the Fourth European Economic Congress in Katowice, where, for three days, on the Plac Sejmu Śląskiego (Silesian Assembly Square) a 20-ft container was placed, with a model of the European Baltic-Adriatic Railway Corridor inside.

In January, the largest container ship in the history of the Port of Gdynia - MSC Krystal with a loading capacity of 5 762 TEU, called at the BCT - Baltic Container Terminal. The terminal Board, however, strives to ensure that in the near future, in line with the requirements of developing market needs and expectations, the terminal will be capable of handling vessels even twice and three times larger. In order to bring public attention to the need of adapting the Port of Gdynia to host vessels with a greater draught and length, on 1st March the BCT authorities held in Warsaw a conference titled "Gdynia – the deep-water port”.

The event from the past six months, which significantly marks the history of the terminal, was the collision of the Stena Spirit ferry with a quay gantry in the Baltic Container Terminal. As a result, the gantry toppled and another one was damaged. Three BCT employees were injured in the accident, but fortunately their life and health is not at risk anymore. All cargo handling operations were resumed as soon as 1 hour after the accident; also, all the handling operations are delivered as scheduled, and the customers are served timely. Currently, shore handling operations are carried out using four quay gantries and two Liebherr mobile cranes with lifting capacity of 100 tons.